I Think About How I Met Your Mother Way Too Much

A few weeks ago, as we watched How I Met Your Mother, the wife commented about how much she hated Lily's new haircut. First off, she's right - Alyson Hannigan dying that beautiful red hair is kind of like Paul Newman putting in brown contacts. Why? But her comment got me to thinking. Others have pointed out that this silly, sweet, frothy sitcom can get kind of dark about the realities of that transitionary period from young adults to real adults, when for the vast majority of us whatever dreams we had about our lives start to get whittled down, bit by bit. So we've seen idealistic Marshall sell out to corporate law for money, Ted's idealized version of Robin and their future together crash around them, and Lily realizing that her dreams of being an artist will never be realized. Here's my thought. While we may have assumed that the "Lily can't let go of her dreams" storyline was tied up neatly last year, with her break up with Marshall and summer of art school, isn't it possible they'll go back there? That we'll see Lily do something else drastic to try and shake off her inevitable future as the kindergarten teacher wife of the successful corporate lawyer? And if so, wouldn't a hairstyle change that very vividly recalls her college freshman, height of optimism and idealism, goth hairdo be a subtle way for the writers to foreshadow that storyline?

Seriously, I think about this show way too much.

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